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Fireworks but also fears as world greets 2016

Celebrations were full-on in New Zealand where the New Year began, but in attack-shaken Paris will be muted. Festivities are cancelled in Brussels due to a terror threat, and in the Gaza strip the revelry is outright banned.

Fireworks explode over the Opera House in Sydney, Australia. (Rob Griffith / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Confetti flies over New York's Times Square after the clock strikes midnight during the New Year's Eve celebration. (Mary Altaffer / AP)

By The Associated PressSylvie Corbet Kristen Gelineau and Jon Gambrell

Thu., Dec. 31, 2015

On a New Year’s Eve haunted by fears of terrorism, a spectacular fire in one of Dubai’s tall towers captured the world’s attention. With few exceptions, the celebrations rolled on, and while fire still raged, the Dubai Media office declared on Twitter: “New Year celebrations in Dubai will continue as scheduled.”

And it was quite a show, drawing cheers and whistles from tens of thousands people watching the barrage of fireworks competing with the burning building for attention.

In Bangkok, police-flanked partygoers rang in the new year at the site of a deadly bombing that took place just months ago

In Paris, residents recovering from their city’s own deadly attacks enjoyed scaled-back celebrations. And in Belgium’s capital, authorities anxious after thwarting what they say was a holiday terror plot cancelled festivities altogether.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Belgium said six people were brought in for questioning Thursday morning in connection with a suspected plot to stage extremist attacks. Three of those detained were released later in the day.

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As 2015 drew to a close, many are bidding a weary and wary adieu to a year marred by attacks that left nations reeling and nerves rattled.

“We still have this fear but we need to continue to live,” said Parisian Myriam Oukik. “We will celebrate.”

A look at how people around the world are doing exactly that:

United Arab Emirates

Smoke billows from the Address Downtown Hotel (R) as fireworks go off near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower in Dubai. (KARIM SAHIB)

In the megacity of Dubai, a fire broke out two hours before midnight in the 63-story The Address hotel more than two hours before midnight, in the area where a massive fireworks display was being prepared.

The five-star hotel is near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 828 metres (905 yards). At least one person suffered a heart attack from the smoke and over-crowding during evacuation late Thursday, and 14 reportedly suffered minor injuries.

Organizers say the Burj Khalifa had been fitted with 400,000 LED lights and 1.6 tons of fireworks will be used in the display.

Burning debris rained down from the building as firetrucks raced to the scene. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which ran up the 63-story building. The Address Downtown Dubai is a 991 foot-tall (302-meter) skyscraper that has 626 luxury apartments and 196 hotel rooms, according to Skyscraper Center, which tracks skyscrapers.

France

A soldier patrols at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris where celebrations will be tense as the French capital continues to recover from October's attacks that left 130 people dead.
(Michel Euler)

The French are still recovering from the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris, and authorities are preparing for a possible worst-case scenario on New Year’s Eve. About 60,000 police and troops were deployed across the country on Thursday.

“The same troops who used to be in Mali, Chad, French Guyana or the Central African Republic are now ensuring the protection of French people,” said Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France’s year of trials started with attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Jan. 7 and on a Paris kosher market two days later, violence that killed 17 people plus the three Islamic extremist attackers.

The 2016 appears during the 5-minute video performance displayed on the Arc de Triomphe as part of New Year's Eve celebrations on the Champs Elysees Avenue in Paris, France, Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. (Francois Mori/The Associated Press)

In the ensuing months, attacks were thwarted on a church and a high-speed international train, and another Islamic extremist decapitated his boss at an American-owned chemical plant.

French president Francois Hollande used his traditional New Year’s Eve speech to warn that the terrorist threat is still at its “highest level” in France.

“We just lived a terrible year,” he said, adding: “2015 has been a year of suffering and resistance, let’s make from 2016 a year of courage and hope.”

Paris cancelled its usual fireworks display in favour of a five-minute video performance at the Arc de Triomphe just before midnight, relayed on screens along the Champs Elysée.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said the show was aimed at “sending the world the message that Paris is standing, proud of its lifestyle and living together.”

In previous years, more than 600,000 French and foreign visitors gathered on the famous avenue for New Year’s Eve. This year, it will be closed to vehicles for just one hour instead of the usual three.

“It was a very strange year and we just want 2016 to be different, simply a normal one,” said Parisian Francoise Malterre. “It does not need to be an excellent one, but just a normal one.”

Thailand

People walk past '2016' written in the sand at Railay beach in Krabi, Thailand. (JORGE SILVA/Reuters)

Less than six months after a pipe bomb killed 20 people at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, tens of thousands rang in the new year at the same intersection with live music and a countdown.

Up to 5,000 police were in the area, with explosive ordnance disposal experts sweeping the area ahead of time.

Security was beefed up in Malaysia’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, where fireworks greeted the new year at a historic square as well as at the Petronas Twin Towers, one of the world’s tallest buildings.

Malaysian authorities have detained more than 150 suspects linked to the Islamic State extremist group over the past two years, including some who were allegedly plotting to launch attacks in strategic areas of Kuala Lumpur.

Phillippines

No specific threats timed for New Year’s revelries were detected in the capital, Manila, or other major cities, although government forces are always on alert due to the presence of small but violent Muslim militant groups in the country’s south.

Concern on New Year’s Eve was instead focused on the use of illegal fireworks, which last year injured more than 850 people. Shopping malls and cities organized fireworks displays to discourage people from lighting their own firecrackers. A huge religious sect, the Iglesia ni Cristo, was to attempt to break the world record for the largest fireworks display and the highest number of sparklers to be lit in one place.

An annual procession of the Black Nazarene, a black wooden statue of Jesus Christ, was held a day earlier than usual Thursday to prevent injuries from mounds of trash and unexploded firecrackers that litter Manila’s streets after New Year’s revelries. A larger procession of the statue will be held Jan. 9.

Japan

Japanese men pound steamed rice into a mochi rice cake to celebrate the New Year at the Kanda shrine in Tokyo. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/Getty Images)

New Year’s Eve is Japan’s biggest holiday, and millions crammed into trains to flee the cities for their hometowns to slurp down bowls of noodles, symbolizing longevity, while watching the annual “Red and White” song competition on television. As midnight approached, families bundled up for visits to neighbourhood temples, where the ritual ringing of huge bronze bells reverberated through the chill.

Tokyo was on special alert for security issues this year, with posters in subways and other public spaces warning people to keep their eyes open for suspicious packages or activities.

North and South Korea

A couple kisses inside a giant inflatable ball during a countdown event to celebrate New Year in Seoul, South Korea. (KIM HONG-JI/Reuters)

South Koreans marked New Year’s Eve with traditional bell ringing ceremonies, fireworks and outdoor music and dance performances. One celebration was organized at a town near the border with rival North Korea to watch one of the ceremonies and wish for peaceful Korean unification.

Pope Francis touches a statue of Baby Jesus as he arrives to celebrate a New Year's Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

Vatican City

In the final hours of 2015, Pope Francis encouraged humanity to hang on to recollections of good deeds, so that gestures of goodness can be seen triumphing over evil.

Francis presided over a year’s end prayer service Thursday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he mused about how people are sometimes driven by “insatiable thirst for power and by gratuitous violence.” He said it was impossible to forget “so many days marked by violence, by death, by the unspeakable suffering of so many innocents.”

Fireworks light the Auckland, N.Z. sky as the country becomes to first one with significant population to greet the arrival of 2016. (Hannah Peters)

New Zealand

New Zealand, the first nation with a sizable population to celebrate the New Year, counted down the seconds to midnight with a giant digital clock on Auckland’s landmark Sky Tower. Horns blared and crowds cheered as the tower was lit up with fireworks, with colours shifting from green to red to white.

Simultaneous fireworks displays erupted along Sydney’s famed harbour, where people crowded onto balconies, into waterside parks and onto boats as they jockeyed for the best view, clinking glasses and whooping with joy as the first pyrotechnics exploded.

More than 1 million people had been expected to watch the glittery display, featuring a multicolored firework “waterfall” cascading off the Harbour Bridge and effects in the shapes of butterflies, octopuses and flowers.

Australian officials, struggling to contain the threat from home-grown extremists, encouraged revelers to enjoy the evening and assured them that thousands of extra police were patrolling major cities.

Chinese paramilitary police patrol the Bund in Shanghai, where officials cancelled the annual New Year countdown as a precaution against a repeat of last year's deadly stampede.

An official New Year’s Eve celebration was staged near Beijing’s Forbidden City with performances and fireworks, and one of China’s most popular TV stations broadcast a gala from the National Stadium, known to most as the iconic Bird’s Nest.

For safety reasons, Shanghai closed subways near the scenic waterfront Bund,, mindful of a stampede last New Year’s Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China’s most prosperous metropolis.

Beijing’s shopping and bar areas are under a holiday security alert that started before Christmas and has resulted in armed police standing guard at popular commercial areas. Police commonly issue such alerts during holiday periods.

Indonesia

Although Indonesia was on high alert,
children wearing costumes gathered in Bali for a parade marking 2015's last sundown. (Firdia Lisnawati)

Indonesia is on high alert after authorities said last week that they had foiled a plot by Islamic militants to attack government officials, foreigners and others. About 150,000 police officers and soldiers have been deployed to safeguard churches, airports and other public places.

More than 9,000 police are deployed in Bali, the site of Indonesia’s deadliest terror attack, which killed 202 people in 2002.

National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Anton Charliyan said security is focused on anticipating attacks in vulnerable regions including the capital, Jakarta.

India

Hotels and restaurants in and around New Delhi advertised grand party plans with live bands, dancing and plenty of drinks.

With security a concern, police and anti-terrorism squads on Tuesday conducted drills at a crowded shopping mall and food court. Witnesses, however, were unimpressed. Mona Arthur, a Delhi journalist who was in the mall at the time, dubbed the exercise a “mockery of a mock drill.”

She and a friend were shopping when two police officers ran past them. Then a security official said two terrorists had entered the mall.

“The whole thing was comical,” said Arthur, who was irritated that no information was given to shoppers on where to go or what to do.

Jordan

Nada Fayez, 46, a mother of four teenagers, planned to celebrate the New Year at home with her family. She said the security situation in Jordan is stable and she would have no concerns if her sons and daughter preferred to go out for celebrations.

Jordan has taken a high-profile role in the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State extremist group, which controls large areas of neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

Security has been beefed up in the streets of Amman, as well as in malls and hotels.

Gaza Strip

Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers banned New Year celebrations in the Palestinian coastal enclave. Police spokesman Ayman Batniji said hotels and restaurants were allowed to hold parties a day earlier, or a day later.

“Celebrating the new year contradicts the instructions of Islamic religion,” Batniji said. “It’s a Western custom that we don’t accept in Gaza.”

The militant Hamas group wrested control of Gaza, home to 1.8 million people, from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the secular Fatah movement in 2007.

Kenya

Police in Kenya, which has been repeatedly attacked by al-Shabaab militants based in neighbouring Somalia, are urging vigilance as many people prepare to celebrate in hotels and watch midnight fireworks displays. Unauthorized fireworks have been banned as a safety hazard “in view of the elevated threat of terrorism,” police said.

“Kenyans should remain vigilant at all times and know that we are facing a real terror threat since the split of al-Shabaab into two groups, one supporting al-Qaida and another Islamic State,” Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet told The Associated Press. “We are facing a real terror threat because these two groups are struggling to outsmart each other. This therefore is not a time to drop our guard, particularly during this festive season.”

Belgium

An empty terrace Thursday in the Grand Place in Brussels, where authorities cancelled a New Year's Eve fireworks display, citing fears of a militant attack. (FRANCOIS LENOIR)

In Brussels, 2016 rang in without the customary fireworks display and downtown street party. The festivities were cancelled by Mayor Yvan Mayeur, who said Wednesday evening it would have been impossible to administer adequate security checks to all of the 100,000 people expected to attend.

Earlier this week, Belgian authorities announced they had arrested two men suspected of planning to stage attacks in Brussels over the holidays. On Thursday, six more people were brought in for questioning; three were released as night fell.

A total of 10 people have also been detained in Belgium for suspicion of involvement in the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office also said six people were brought in for questioning Thursday morning in connection with a suspected plot to stage extremist attacks, but at least three were released as night fell.

On Thursday morning, forklifts and trucks removed generators and other equipment from the Place de Brouckere, the broad square in central Brussels where the fireworks show was supposed to happen. Some people said they understood the cancellation, others called it knuckling under to the extremist threat.

Romania

One of the largest clubs in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, cancelled its New Year party hours before the event, as authorities stepped up safety checks, two months after a deadly nightclub fire that killed 63. The interior ministry said Thursday that 37,000 police had been dispatched to ensure public safety at outdoor parties around the country.

Authorities closed many clubs including the Princess club for failing to respect safety rules following the fire at the Colectiv nightclub on Oct. 30 which erupted after a spark from a pyrotechnics show ignited foam decor.

Hundreds of people had tickets for the party which was abruptly cancelled following an inspection.

Germany

Rainy weather dampened the New Year celebrations in Berlin, where security was tighter than in previous years. Several hundred thousand people still turned out for several minutes of fireworks at the Brandenburg Gate, wishing each other “Froehes neues Jahr” and expressing their hopes for a peaceful 2016.

In Munich, police warned about an hour before the New Year of a “serious, imminent threat” of a terror attack. Despite the call by police for people to stay away from crowds, thousands of people were still on the streets to meet the new year with fireworks.

Britain

Major celebrations marked by fireworks spectaculars were planned in London, Edinburgh and other big cities despite a terror threat judged to be severe. Police advised revelers not to go to the fireworks displays without tickets and to be ready to have their belongings searched.

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro kicked off its Olympic year with a fiesta on Copacabana Beach attended by more than 2 million people, according to police estimates. Brazil's most popular New Year's Eve show was illuminated by about 22 tonnes of fireworks fired off over almost 16 minutes. To celebrate Rio's hosting of the 2016 Summer Games in August, the soundtrack for revelers included music from previous Olympics and songs paying homage to samba on its 100th anniversary.

Rio authorities said they weren't as worried about terrorism as other cities. Police used two monitoring trucks to follow suspicious movements during the party. That equipment also will be used in security operations during the Olympics.

A man appearing to be dressed as Charlie Chaplin prepares to let 2016 roll. He was seen with crowds at the New Year's Eve Sao Silvestre running marathon in Sao Paulo.
(MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL)

New York

Around 1 million people converged on Times Square for the annual New Year's Eve celebration. A 5,386-kilogram Waterford crystal ball descended as revelers counted down to 2016 before sharing hugs and their first kisses of the year under a blanket of confetti.

The glitzy party included musical acts including Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas and Carrie Underwood.

This year's festivities were attended by nearly 6,000 police officers, including members of a specialized counterterrorism unit.

Las Vegas

Times Square officials and the head of Philips Lighting Americas gather at the New Years Eve Ball in New York. The sphere will be run up its pole amid lighting effects from 32,000 LED bulbs. (Neilson Barnard)

Officials urged revelers to leave bags, backpacks and strollers at home as police readied for hundreds of thousands of partiers to flood the Las Vegas Strip. It's wasn't a first-of-its-kind request, but it got extra emphasis following deadly attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.

Nearly 1,000 uniformed officers and an undisclosed number of undercover officers were to be posted along the popular casino-filled corridor.

In the Florida keys sailor Evalena Worthington, garbed in a pirate costume, practices for tonight's planned New Year's celebrations in Key West.

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